In the case of a liquid transfusion and a blood transfusion to a patient and extracorporeal circulation in surgery, a path (transport line) must be formed for transporting a liquid substance, such as a drug solution and blood. The transport line generally is formed by connecting vessels, various instruments, tubes, etc. As a method for connecting different members, there has been known a slip connection between a male luer as a male member and a needle-less port as a female member (for example, see Patent Documents 1, 2). The needle-less port includes a partition member (hereinafter, referred to as “septum”) made of an elastic material such as rubber, with the middle formed with a linear slit (cut). By inserting a male luer (tubular body) to which no sharp metal needle such as an injection needle is attached into the slit of the septum, the needle-less port and the male luer can communicate with each other. The slit of the septum immediately closes when the male luer is removed from the needle-less port. Thus, the septum has resealability and the male luer can be inserted and removed repeatedly.
In the above-mentioned slip connection, since the slit of the septum immediately closes when the male luer is removed from the needle-less port, generally a liquid substance is less likely to leak from the needle-less port to which the male luer is not connected. However, since the male luer is exposed to the outside before insertion into and after removal from the needle-less port, there is a possibility that the liquid substance leaks from the male luer.
For reducing the possibility of the liquid substance leaking from the male luer that is not connected to the needle-less port, as shown in FIG. 7, there has been known a method for covering a male luer 110 with an expansible cover 120 (see Patent Documents 3, 4). The cover 120 includes an outer peripheral wall 121 having a substantially cylindrical shape, one end of which is blocked by a top plate 123. The male luer 110 has a cylindrical shape, and an opening 112 is formed at the tip for inflow and outflow of the liquid substance. A linear slit (cut) 125 is formed in the top plate 123 at a position facing the opening 112 of the male luer 110. A septum 151 of a needle-less port 150 is a disk-shaped member made of an elastic material such as rubber, with the middle formed with a linear slit (cut) 152. The septum 151 is sandwiched and fixed by a base body part 153 having a substantially circular cylindrical shape and a port cap 155.
As shown in FIG. 7, when the male luer 110 is not connected to the needle-less port 150, the top plate 123 of the cover 120 contacts closely with the opening 112 of the male luer 110 so as to block the opening 112. The slit 125 of the cover 120 is closed. From this state, when the male luer 110 is pushed into the needle-less port 150, the male luer 110 penetrates the slit 125 of the cover 120, and further penetrates the slit 152 of the septum 151, thereby being connected to the needle-less port 150. At this time, the outer peripheral wall 121 of the cover 120 is deformed by compression. Thereafter, when the male luer 110 is taken out from the needle-less port 150, the outer peripheral wall 121 of the cover 120 extends due to its elastic recoverability, thereby returning to the initial state.
As described above, by attaching the cover 120 on the male luer 110, in the state where the male luer 110 is not connected to the needle-less port 150 as shown in FIG. 7, the opening 112 of the male luer 110 can be blocked by the top plate 123 of the cover 120. Therefore, the possibility of the liquid substance leaking from the male luer 110 is low.